Video: Freedom High students discuss the pitfalls of teens using social media

In October, an incident involving social media nearly escalated into violence at Freedom High School. Rumors surfaced at the time concerning a fight brewing between two rival gangs on the Oakley, California campus. For four days, the situation escalated over Facebook and Twitter and illustrated how dangerous social media can be used by some teenagers.
Fortunately, thanks to the swift action by Principal Erik Faulkner and fellow administrators, ironically, using the very same social media outlets that fueled the rumors, they were prepared with the help of Oakley police, and eventually defused the situation.
Still, this clearly shows how things can get out of hand if teenagers use social media for the wrong reasons. Incidents across the country have showed the terrible effects of cyberbullying and false information going over social media, mentally abusing youngsters and often times leading to a fatal conclusion.
We went to the Oakley campus recently for a roundtable discussion with senior Nenwon Gbilia, senior Alexandra Kriletich, sophomore Katherine Mosqueira, senior Rachel Wright and senior Cheyenne Duran to see how social media is viewed from the eyes of teenagers, and perhaps not only hear why these things go viral, but what can be done to help prevent this in the future.